Bottle

Large bottle with ovoid body and flaring lip.
Clay: white porcelain.
Glaze: milky white.
Decoration: tree peonies and formal patterns in red, yellow, and green overglaze enamels. with black pigment details.

Historical period(s)
Edo period, 1650-1670
Medium
Porcelain with enamels over clear colorless glaze
Style
Arita ware, early enamel type
Dimensions
H x W: 46.8 x 25.3 cm (18 7/16 x 9 15/16 in)
Geography
Japan, Saga prefecture, Arita
Credit Line
Purchase — Charles Lang Freer Endowment
Collection
Freer Gallery of Art
Accession Number
F1957.26
On View Location
Currently not on view
Classification(s)
Ceramic, Vessel
Type

Bottle

Keywords
Arita ware, early enamel type, Edo period (1615 - 1868), Japan, porcelain, tree
Provenance

To 1957
John Sparks, Ltd. London, England. [1]

From 1957
Freer Gallery of Art, purchased from John Sparks, Ltd. London, England. [2]

Notes:

[1] Curatorial Remark 1 in the object record.

[2] See note 1.

Previous Owner(s) and Custodian(s)

John Sparks, Ltd. 1890-1992

Description

Large bottle with ovoid body and flaring lip.
Clay: white porcelain.
Glaze: milky white.
Decoration: tree peonies and formal patterns in red, yellow, and green overglaze enamels. with black pigment details.

Label

Branches of a tree peony in full bloom, interspersed with disembodied orchid leaves, reach around this massive bottle.  The color scheme of subdued red, green, and yellow pigments was formerly called Ko-Kutani style, but scholars now recognize it as an early phase of enamel-decorated porcelain at Arita, based on Chinese porcelains of the late Ming dynasty (1368-1644).

Published References
  • Zaigai Nihon no Shiho [Japanese Art: Selections from Western Collections]. 10 vols., Tokyo, 1979 - 1980. vol. 9: pl. 50.
  • Oriental Ceramics: The World's Great Collections. 12 vols., Tokyo. vol. 10, pl. 63.
  • Roger Soame Jenyns. Japanese Porcelain. London. fig. 84b.
  • Hugo Munsterberg. The Ceramic Art of Japan: A Handbook for Collectors., 1st ed. Rutland, Vermont and Tokyo. p. 169, pl. 102.
Collection Area(s)
Japanese Art
Web Resources
Google Cultural Institute
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